As soon as we scored one more run in the game, I knew it was over. When we played PH in the regular season, they beat us 13-1. In the sectional finals game, we beat them 7-3, and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

Nothing can beat the feeling of the coaches saying that I am pitching the district semi-final game against a team that was undefeated. This was the farthest my baseball team had made it in a long time. It was last year during the spring season of 2010, which would have been my sophomore year. I had never felt nervous before a game before. I had to get a physical that day, and my blood pressure was high. I guess I was nervous a little subconsciously.

The bus ride over to the game was dead silent. Everyone was listening to music and trying to get pumped up for the game. When we arrived, the game before us was still going on. We waited and waited until finally, the game was over. We all started to throw and get stretched out.

As game time came closer, I was more and more excited. We were the road team, so we were hitting first. Before I knew it, the top of the first inning was over, and it was my turn to pitch.

When I took the mound, I was a little nervous. I was thinking to myself, ‘Hit your spots and don’t leave the ball out over the middle of the plate.’ Being a sophomore, I hadn’t had too much experience, but I had a great year so far, so the coaches gave me the ball. The leadoff batter launched a ball into the gap, and he made it to second base. The air was a little chilly, but as soon as I started throwing, I warmed right up. After I struck out the next two batters in the inning, the nerves went away. As the game went on, I continued to pitch well, but we just could not hit their pitcher; therefore, I didn’t get any run support. We ended up having a couple errors that cost us two runs. When I was removed out of the game in the fifth inning, the score was 2-0, they were winning, and I was very upset. The crowd screamed that I did a good job, but I wasn’t satisfied. I just paced back and forth through the dugout for the rest of the game. I was so upset about coming out of the game while we were losing and not being able to do anything about it. After they scored the third run, it was over.

We ended up losing a heartbreaker 3-1, which wasn’t too bad, considering their pitcher had a sizzling 88 mph fastball and a tight-spinning 80 mph curveball, and averaged about seventeen strikeouts a game. After the game was over, the whole team went out to the foul line to meet Coach D. We gathered around him. We all hung our heads. He said, “Keep your heads up. Our rival team was undefeated. You lost to a good team, and you have nothing to hang your heads about.” Some players looked up at him; however, I just continued to keep my head down and look around at some of the seniors. Seeing them so sad made me feel really bad because I felt like it was my fault that we lost. Some of the seniors, like Austin and Garrett, came up to me and said, “Hey, man, you pitched well, and there is nothing more you could have done.” I felt better because they said I did a good job, and it wasn’t my fault at all. One of the parents even came and talked to me because after the game I just went straight to the bus. The bus ride home was eerily silent. Nobody said a word the whole time. I think that the whole team was in shock because if we could take two of the errors away we would have won the game.

Looking back, even though we lost and it was a very emotional game, it was one of the most fun games I have ever played in because it was the district final game, and the stands were packed. I think even most of the seniors would agree with me and say that it was the most exciting game of the year.